We arrived on December 11 and are still here. First the good news. The soft coral looks great and we are seeing more fish than ever before. Amazing numbers of fish. More Eagle Rays, large fish and massive schools of small fish. Bad News: much coral bleaching. Bruce and Carib Inn said it would get better when the water cools. Many, many Lion fish. We spotted three today and eight yesterday. Most appear in pears and I took a picture of two today no more than three feet apart. The markers are littering the coral and unnecessary. The certified hunters just need to dive and they'll see plenty to kill. Mosquitoes far worse than my past 12 visits. I have over 300 bites. Did a night dive at Lac Bay last week and was fully outfitted before getting out of the truck. The mosquitoes felt like rain hitting my face. Ended up with 87 on my forehead and temples, between my hat and wet suit and over 50 on the back of my neck and head. If they like you, bring Deet and use it aggressively. My wife has one bite. Yes, the like me. They are everywhere. The rain has brought the vampires but created a green landscape. I'm amazed at the growth in the coral and fish population. Beautiful. I sure do itch.

Bill, sorry about the bites

The rain is good for Bonaire, just bad for people. A friend of mine left three days early because of the bug problem. They rented a house without screens....His wife went to the ER when she got home.

I personally counted the forehead bites...there were only 83 ;-)

agree with your post--we just got back from an 8 day trip, our 3rd in the past 2 years(Oct, Feb, Dec)--each with rain and more rain.
and more bugs--despite lots of 100% deet

our stay at Belmar was superb as always.

diving was great, even with poor viz and currents.
with a wind reversal we dove for the first time Lighthouse and it was fabulous.

looking forward to return in April and hope for more sun

Nell

bill, i'm the same as your wife...i hardly get touched by mosquitoes and my wife gets covered with bites despite using gallons of repellent. she's tried everything from deet to skin-so-soft to cactus juice...nothing works for her. i stick with cactus juice and am usually fine.

hope this doesn't bring another dengue outbreak.